Spain 2024
In January 2024, a small group was welcome at several Spanish Air Force and Navy bases. The goal of this trip was to conduct interviews with the local units for features in several international aviation magazines. After the interviews the aviation assets were inspected up close and photographed.
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On Sunday 21 January 21 2024, a group of eight people gathered at Schiphol for an easy flight to Gran Canaria. Once there, the rental cars were picked up and the group headed to the first hotel of the tour near Gando airport, where we would have the first visit the next day.
The first visit was on Monday 22 January 2024, at Gando Air Base at Ala 46. We were accompanied by the base commander all day and visited both the Hornet squadron Escuadron 462 and the Search and Rescue squadron Escuadrón 802. We were able to conduct interviews with both squadrons and had plenty of opportunity to photograph all movements. We were also allowed to take a look at all the maintenance hangars. The visit lasted until 4:00 PM and then we went to the approach for a little while, which yielded a German A400 and a CN-235-100MSA from Escuadrón 802.
After this it was time to check in for the flight to Seville, where we picked up the rental cars after which we covered a large part of the journey to Talavera La Real in the late evening/early night for our visit the next day.
On Tuesday 23 January 2024, we got up early and completed the last part of the journey to Talavera. Here we were received by the commander of the training program and were offered the opportunity for an interview upon arrival. After the interview, we were accompanied by two students all day and had the opportunity to photograph as many movements as possible. Here too we were allowed to look into the maintenance hangars. The visit lasted until 4:00 PM and then we started the journey to Rota where we would have a visit the next day.
Wednesday 24 January 2024 would be a busy day, because two visits were planned. The day started at Rota where we would be guests of three squadrons. At all three squadrons we had the opportunity to do an interview while spending time on the ramps. For example, we were able to photograph the new H135 helicopter at Eslla 012, the AB212s at Eslla 3 and the Harriers present at Eslla 009 for most of the morning and part of the afternoon. We were also able to photograph a number of Seahawks who were outside. Moreover, we were able to look in all the maintenance hangars and in one all the H500 helicopters were in storage, which was a nice bonus.
The visit ended around 2:00 PM and we drove towards Moron. We were allowed to record the afternoon operations there. The afternoon mission was unfortunately postponed to initially 5:00 PM and eventually became 7:00 PM when a number of Eurofighters flew their mission. Before that , we had the opportunity to take a look at the maintenance hangars and also to photograph the preserved aircraft. The visit lasted until 8:00 PM and then we made part of the journey towards Albacete Los Llanos where we would have a visit the next day.
After a short night on Thursday 25 January 2024, we completed the last part of the journey to Albacete. We had two interviews here with the base commander and with the TLP commander. The day started with the interview at TLP, but because the participants would only arrive during the day, there was initially no opportunity to take some photos here. We were first allowed to photograph Ala14’s morning mission at the start of the runway, then we went to the base commander for an interview regarding Ala14. After this visit back to the runway to photograph the returning morning mission. We were also able to photograph some transport for the TLP there. We were then allowed to view the maintenance hangars and some preserved aircraft, before we were allowed to return to the TLP platform where the Czech, French, Greek, Italian and Spanish participants had arrived. We had an hour here to photograph all the aircraft present. Around 4:00 PM the visit ended and it was time to start the journey to Murcia – San Javier.
On Friday 26 January 2024, it was Murcia – San Javier’s turn, where it was stated upon request that we would only be given an hour on the field due to a delegation of athletes who would be present that day. There would be no opportunity for an interview and there would be no flying, fortunately the opposite turned out to be true. In the morning we started with a visit to all maintenance hangars and a visit to the preserved aircraft. However, around 10:00 am a number of PC-21s started up and we were just in time to photograph part of them. Because time was limited we were allowed to wait until they got back and then we would have to go. Here too it was fortunate that the base commander was the first to land and gave us permission to stay a little longer until everything was in. After that we would really have to leave, because the preparations for the delegation were in full swing and the PAO would have to assist. About 10 PC-21s were back around 12:00 and we left the field around 12:15. We then started the journey to Valencia for the flight back to the Netherlands the next day. Once at Valencia, a quick look at the Valencia – Bétera army field revealed another AS532. Because it was still early, we spent a while in the approach at Valencia at an orange grove where some delicious fresh oranges were picked and enjoyed.
On Saturday 27 January 2024, we returned the cars at Valencia airport and flew back to Schiphol where we landed around noon. We wish everyone a safe return trip after a successful visit with which the Spain trip in January 2024 was successfully completed.
